Blue Ridge Electric Restoring Power; Blue Ridge Energies Delivering Fuels
For Immediate Release
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Corporate Communications, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383 ext. 3213; Pager:1-800-471-1323; or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Lenoir, North Carolina (December 5, 2002) –Outages due to ice began occurring for Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation members early this morning. As of 8 a.m., approximately 1,300 members of the cooperative’s 64,000 consumers in northwest North Carolina are without power
Linemen and customer staff were on the job assisting members as the first outages for Blue Ridge Electric began occurring in Watauga County at 3:27 a.m. on Powder Horn Mountain. A little over a hundred members were affected.
Southern Caldwell County, in the Hudson and Granite Falls area, has been hardest hit with the outages, which also began occurring around 3:30 a.m. and has left approximately 1,000 members without power.
Linemen and support personnel have been preparing for the storm for several days, and drivers for the cooperative’s home heating fuels subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies, have also been gearing up for the storm. Predictions call for the storm to bring with it the most severe snow, ice and freeing rain in the past five years.
Blue Ridge Electric members should report outages by calling the cooperative’s automated outage reporting system called PowerLine, at 1-800-448-2383, from a telephone at the affected residence or business. Members may also call their local Blue Ridge office: (Lenoir: 754-9071; Boone: 264-8894; West Jefferson: 246-7138; and Sparta: 372-4646).
Blue Ridge Energies is delivering propane and other heating fuels as long as roads are passable. Consumers needing home heating fuels service should contact call their local Blue Ridge Energies office: Lenoir: 758-4401; Boone: 264-3521, West Jefferson: 246-2421, and Hickory: 267-9944. Cylinders may be refilled at the Lenoir office located just off Blowing Rock Blvd. at 110 Nuway Circle.
Blue Ridge Electric serves some 64,000 consumers in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes and Alexander counties. Blue Ridge Energies provides propane, home heating fuel, kerosene and related appliances and services to Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Catawba and Alleghany counties.
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